(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for assisting drivers to negotiate intersections. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for assisting drivers to negotiate intersections in which states of traffic lights at an upcoming intersection or crosswalk are anticipated and the driver is informed of which maneuvers are possible when reaching the intersection or crosswalk.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Drivers of vehicles must obey traffic lights set up at intersections and crosswalks. However, the changing of traffic lights from green to red is a frequent cause of confusion, sometimes resulting in accidents. That is, because of the duration of illumination of the yellow light varies from one traffic light to another, drivers may wrongly estimate the amount of time available to pass through an intersection before the traffic light turns red. In such instances, a driver may initially intend to traverse the intersection, then change his or her mind as the intersection is approached. Accordingly, the vehicle is abruptly stopped to avoid running a red light. This can result in a rear-end collision, especially when there is heavy traffic. The same situation may occur at traffic lights set up at crosswalks.
The potentially dangerous situation described above is worsened when vehicles are also able to make left turns at the intersection. That is, with any of the three different types of left turns, phasing- permissive, protected/permissive, and protected only- the confusion caused by the changing of signals from green to red is greatly increased at the intersection.
The present invention has been made in an effort to solve the above problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for assisting drivers negotiate intersections in which states of traffic lights at an upcoming intersection or crosswalk are anticipated and the driver is informed of which maneuvers are possible when reaching the intersection or crosswalk.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a system for assisting drivers negotiate intersections comprising a wireless unit, which is mounted in a vehicle, for performing a wireless transmission and reception of various signals, and displaying various symbols to aid the driver in passing through an intersection; a bi-directional base station for receiving vehicle position signals from the wireless unit, then retransmitting the vehicle position signals; a traffic light unit provided at an intersection or crosswalk, the traffic light unit displaying lights and signals; and an information service management center for receiving signals from the traffic light unit to determine an illumination state of the same, and transmitting the signals from the traffic light unit to the base station via a wire connection.
According to a feature of the present invention, the wireless unit comprises a ground positioning system (GPS) for detecting the vehicle position and transmitting the vehicle position signals; a vehicle speed sensor for detecting a present speed of the vehicle and outputting corresponding signals; a controller for receiving the vehicle speed signals output by the vehicle speed sensor, and receiving traffic signal information of the traffic light unit transmitted from the base station after passing through the information service management center, the traffic signal information including a present illumination state of the traffic light unit, a light change sequence, and a duration of illumination, after which the controller determines a distance to the intersection and an optimum symbol to aid the driver; and a display unit for displaying various symbols to aid the driver in passing through the intersection.